EDITORIAL: Protect yourself from ticks, Lyme disease

Lyme disease is a serious illness which can be spread through the bite of blacklegged ticks.

Though more than welcome under the circumstances, this month brings an unfortunate first for Nova Scotia.

This May marks the province’s inaugural Lyme Disease Awareness Month.

The name is appropriate. Because the tick-borne infection is still relatively new to Nova Scotia, it’s vital to increase public awareness about where ticks are found, how to protect against tick bites, how to remove ticks lodged in the skin and how to recognize signs of Lyme disease infection.

But that need for greater awareness extends to health-care workers, as well. The Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation says the illness can be very hard to diagnose and then even harder to treat. At times, repeated testing is necessary due to false negatives or being given the wrong tests by physicians unfamiliar with Lyme disease.

Thanks to a warming climate, blacklegged ticks, which carry the bacteria causing Lyme disease, are expected to spread across the province, say officials with the provincial Department of Health and Wellness. So far, Yarmouth, Shelburne, Queens, Lunenburg, Halifax and Pictou counties have been confirmed as home to Lyme disease-carrying ticks.

Whether due to a spike in tick bites or more people reporting them — or a combination of both — the number of confirmed and probable cases of Lyme disease shot up from 52 in 2012 to 155 last year.

As members of a new support group in Bedford for people diagnosed with Lyme disease, and their family members, told this newspaper in February, the illness’s effects are often both physically and emotionally devastating, at times rendering victims unable to work or study.

Just a few of a long list of Lyme disease’s symptoms include a telltale bull’s eye rash, headaches, vision and hearing problems, difficulty breathing, neurological, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal problems, mood swings and extreme fatigue.

As always, your best defence is to be well informed. The Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation’s website offers extensive useful information.

Basically, you should know that ticks can be out from early spring right through the fall. They like moist, shaded areas like leafy woods and overgrown grass, and will readily climb clothing searching for exposed skin. If you’re walking outdoors in such areas, applying insect repellents with DEET to one’s skin and clothes, especially at openings such as wrists, ankles and neck, is highly recommended.

After being outdoors, examine your skin carefully for ticks. If you find one attached, use a removal method approved by the CLDF; don’t simply yank it off. There’s no rush, as the bacteria that cause Lyme disease can take 24 hours or longer to be transmitted to a human through a tick bite.